Gold medal treble for cyclist Ruairidh

Youngster on top form at Special Olympics Great Britain event

Special Olympic Cyclist Ruairidh Brown won three gold medals at the event in Manchester

Lindsayfield cyclist Ruairidh Brown geared up for next month’s European Special Olympic Games with a trio of gold medals at the Great Britain National Cycling Competition last week.

The 15-year-old took the Special Olympics contest in Manchester by storm, claiming a clean sweep in his nominated events for the Scotland West team, and he improved on last year’s result of one gold and two bronze medals.

Ruairidh now goes into the European Games in Belgium in fine fettle after wins in the 10km time trial, as well as the 15km and 25km road races.

His first triumph came last Saturday in the time trial, where competitors set off at 30 seconds intervals to race against the clock. Competition was extremely close with the top five riders separated by 30 seconds and Ruairidh won gold by a mere six seconds.

The weather on Sunday was wet and windy and the first event of the day was the 15km road race. With the top five riders so closely matched the racing was very tactical with a number of attempted breakaways being thwarted by the chasing group. In the end, it came down to a last lap dash with Ruairidh sprinting clear of the bunch to take his second gold.

Conditions deteriorated ahead of the 25km road race but the rain relented early in the race and, despite a slippery surface, Ruairidh remained patient and came off the last bend in the lead to win by a few bike lengths.

“I really wanted to win a medal and stayed at the front in each race to give me the best chance but winning three gold medals in the one competition was just incredible,” Ruairidh told the News.

“The racing was really good but quite hard because of the weather, with the wind making it tough.

“These are the race distances I will do in Belgium next month but the racing will be faster so I need to work as hard as possible and hope to win a medal there, too.”

The Sanderson High School pupil will now be part of a Great Britain team in Belgium and, as an added bonus, he has also being chosen to represent his country at the Special Olympics World Games in Los Angeles next summer.

He said: “Being picked to race for the Special Olympics Great Britain team is an amazing opportunity.

“I am really looking forward to next month and especially next year to race at the World Games in LA.